The deep magenta topknot of the waitress matches the painted accent boards and booths inside La Cavaña, clashing with the Technicolor purple sheers over the windows. High chairs are stacked four tall in a restaurant that seats just 35, and there are no fewer than seven candy and sticker machines around the room.

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There’s some real motherly energy flowing through this place. Or maybe it’s auntie-matter, given all the candy machines. That’s a good omen for solid cooking.

Tacos:Nopales and egg tacos fluctuate in price across the taquería landscape. Some price them as premiums; some put them in the $2-and-under breakfast taco friend zone. At La Cavaña, they’re $1.75 for a nice ratio of tender cactus to freshly scrambled eggs.

Potato and chorizo tacos fall into an even friendlier friend zone at $1.39, or three for $2.99 before 10 a.m., for grill-fried potatoes and chorizo that’s greasy and spicy, but not too much of either one.

Even the meaty, beaty, big and bouncy al pastor and carneasada tacos are just $2 here, with onions and cilantro to dress things up. The pastor comes straight off the plancha, bringing with it lots of salt and achiote. Too much, really. By contrast, the asada left its spice rack at home.

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Military City, USA

365 Days of Tacos

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Tortillas: With air pockets and fluffy layers, these handmade corn tortillas would make good puffy tacos, because a run through the fryer would poof them like a blowfish. In their natural state, the layers absorb oil one level at a time to keep the tortillas from falling apart. The flour tortillas are only half as interesting, unless being waxy and dry at the same time counts as interesting.

Salsa: A loose, chunky and cold salsa fresca comes with chips, packed with cumin and cilantro fighting to cancel each other out. The serious stuff comes out with the tacos, a squeeze bottle full of jalapeño verde broken down into an olive green salsa with the viscosity of a smoothie and the flavor and heat of well-roasted green chiles.